01/11/2015

Berlin bikes and pumpkins

A weekend including Halloween over Friday and Saturday, the guarantee to witness how mainstream we all went, but there is hope, I hope.

Friday evening at a checkpoint
I'm sick this week, no sport, keep calm and have some rest said the doctor. But it's Friday evening and I want to move and see what is happening outside. I heard there is a traditional alleycat around Halloween and decided to stay at one of the checkpoint, one appears to be at the cicli-berlinetta bike shop - probably the best bike shop in Berlin - about 800m from our place.

For the occasion the entrance of the shop was turned into a photo studio, each participant was taken into picture before rolling some dices and jumping almost immediately again on their bike to their next check point. Basically people - the bike messengers - playing a game being what they usually do by day for living. Why will you ask? Why not will I answer and people seem to have fun.

It was not my first time hanging around after the closing time of the shop - and by the way the shop online never stop. Always interesting bike fellows to meet and talk to. A ratio of one nationality per person, English, German and more languages spoken with various accents. I love that. Always interesting to hear the story behind the people - by people I meant mostly bike messengers - and the relationship with the streets. Something I like while being on my bike - or my roller skates back in the days in Paris - is to move faster than the pedestrians, sometimes faster than the cars and to observe the city, the multiple interactions at each street corners.

Saturday evening counting the pumpkins
Still sick, always a good excuse to not go out. Only expedition I did was to attend a pre-party in Schöneberg. I crossed the city, avoid a taxi - by that I meant I had to stop or being rolled over by taxi while driving at the green light in the bike lane - reach the place, had a tea, two snaps and I let my friends sheep-ing or penguin-ing the rest of the night - by that I meant behaving like sheep and/or penguins and do like everybody else like going to a costume party tonight.

Berlin is a place where you can go out and get good music all the time, Halloween should a night where you do nothing.

It's 11:00pm and I jump on my red bike - not because of the dress code of the night, my bike is always red - and hit toward Prenzlauerberg following another way. Nollendorf Platz is quiet, nothing special is happening.

Passing behind Potsdamer Platz I see my first accident: three cars and bus trying to compress themselves into one art pieces, nobody seem to be injured except the cars, losers.

I keep going and enter the Hannah-Arendt street. Parallel to Unter del Linden you are mostly alone by night in that street, the city looks like a zombie spot and you will not be surprised to see some at each corner.

Then it's Alexander Platz. I like this place, tonight the police is there and a lot of lost people as well, some going to Halloween party. I see a lot of witches, skulls faces, zombie nurses, group of cats - more the pajamas costume than the slutty version - nothing very original.

I passed U-Rosa Luxemburg Platz and start Schönhauser Allee. First bar is the gothic Lost or Last Cathedral where it seems people having a casual dress code evening. Getting closer to U-Eberwalderdstrasse and the Ferdinand club where only ugly locals are going I see my second car accident. Always funny to see people in costume looking at they cars into each other, hopefully nobody is hurt, just the cars.